One day after the organization taped videos featuring Erik Karlsson and Marc Methot that asked fans not to throw hamburgers on the ice, Senators president Cyril Leeder directed a letter to Mayor Jim Watson appealing to City Council to respect the organization’s wishes for ‘Sens Mile’ not to be opened until the team officially clinches a playoff spot.
Below is a copy of the letter (via CBC’s Stu Mills)
As silly as it is for anyone to believe that it needs to provide fans with some kind of ceremonial ribbon cutting ceremony before fans can officially flock en masse to Elgin Street, reserving the opening of ‘Sens Mile’ because it is a “Playoff Tradition” would carry a lot more weight had the organization not opened it back in the fall of 2013 to kick off their ‘Fearless’ marketing/advertisement campaign.
There is no question that it was self-serving for the City of Ottawa to even arrive at the decision to open up ‘Sens Mile’ without even consulting the organization. Case in point, back in the aforementioned September 2013 ribbon cutting ceremony for ‘Sens Mile’, no City official was present for it.
Disregarding the City’s involvement for a second, the Senators’ appeal to postpone the opening of ‘Sens Mile’ seems like it was born out of fear now more than a respect for tradition.
For the first time in years, the organization’s success and the unanticipated performance of Andrew Hammond are some of the best stories in the NHL right now. Part of what makes them special is that they were so improbable, they are stories that deserve to be rallied around – not be feared because you’re worried about a jinx or how the organization or city could be ribbed by outsiders for getting ahead of itself.
Yet, this is the same organization that ran a video before Monday night’s win over the San Jose Sharks celebrating the fact that its chance of making the playoffs went from 2.03-percent on February 7th to 65.5-percent to the sound of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’.
Even though they have not reached the summit of their mountain, that didn’t stop them from running the video. More importantly, it didn’t jinx them from losing Monday night’s game either.
Rather than get caught up worrying about what the rest of the world thinks or who’s offended by seeing hamburgers thrown on the ice, it would be nice to see the Senators embrace the fun. Instead of encouraging fans not to throw anything, the Senators should adhere to the one idea going around the interwebs: sell plastic hamburgers with proceeds going to the Food Bank and encourage fans to throw them on the ice at the end of games. (Note: people who throw things before the end of the game or mid-play are asshats.) From there, they can be collected and re-sold at the next game.
Like the Senators these days, everybody benefits and everyone should benefit. Ottawa needs to stop being afraid to have fun.
Other News and Notes:
– Chris Phillips, Chris Neil and Craig Anderson all skated before the team’s practice this morning. While Anderson and Clarke MacArthur will hopefully be back by Sunday’s game, not many people are hoping Phillips or Neil return to a successful lineup any time soon. How Dave Cameron manages to get these players into games will be an interesting development to keep an eye on. At this point, given his age and contributions to the team this season, I don’t know how Cameron doesn’t slot Phillips in ahead of any of the other defencemen.
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